Built-up monument



7UP MONUMENT.

Patented Oct 31, 11922;

Patented" @ct. Sill, i922.

earner HELMUTH V. ZENGEN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BUILT-UP MONUMENT.

Application filed October 6, 1920. Serial No. 415,059.

T all whom it may concav /1,

Be it known that I, HELMUTH V. ZENGEN, a citizen of the United. States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Built-Up Monuments, of which the following is a specification. I

My invention relates to statuary or monumental work, and more particularly stated contemplates a novel built-up structure for garden, cemetery and other decora tive purposes.

An object of the invention is to produce a monument, the development of which is obtained by erecting a suitable frame structure upon any convenient foundation, and applying to said frame structure certain courses or strata of materials which are gradually formed through the skill of a workman into various aesthetic figures and artistic groupings.

Another object of the invention resides in the method of building up an article or figure from plastic material such concrete for example, at the place of erection. thereby eliminating the heretofore tedious casting processes and expensive studio work which latter have in the past been the cause of limiting a more general use of decorative statuary.

My invention further consists in the com paratively simple and inexpensive means employed to quickly construct a monument or similar structure as will more fully hereinafter appear and be pointed out in the appended claims.

in the accompanying drawings which I have used to illustrate one of many embodiments of my invention and in which similar reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views:

Fig. l is a view showing a completed worl constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a view illustrating a form of skeleton frame work which can be used in building up the figure shown in Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional View on the line 33 of Fig. 1. on a slightly 1 rger scale, showing the several strata or applications of materials utilized in building up the monument.

In the building up of a monument or other decorative art work, such for example as that required to beautify a garden, I first lay out asuitable foundation upon the site selected and upon this foundation proceed to erect the work. A stone base or pedestal 1 may be provided as shown in the drawings. it being understood, however, that this can be varied or entirely elin'iinatcd according to the requirements and nature of the work.

A slab 2 is preferably mounted upon the base 1, and a main frame 3 extends upwardly from the said slab.

The main frame 3 is formed of relatively heavy rods or piping l, and at the base is formed with off-set portions 5 designed to give greater stability to the structure. The rods 4 are bent to conform to the figure or work selected, and as shown herein extend upwardly, being bent to form a relatively rigid interior supporting frame, the termi- 7 5 nating ends of said rods being indicated by the numeral (3. The rods may be joined together at intervals as shown at 7.

A. relatively lighter or si'ipplementary frame 8 is secured to the main frame and this frame is designed to conform to the general contour of the prominent features of the work being constructed. The supplemental frame 8 is joined at numerous places to the main frame as indicated ly the 5 numeral 9. This may be accomplished by wrapping the material forming the frame 8 about the rods or otherwise securing them together as will be understood.

Upon the frame sections 3 and S I now construct an interior body portion 10, the contour of which can be shaped to approximate the outline of the figure. This portion of the work may be termed a dummy and the materials of which it is formed may be 5 any well known filling substances, such as hay, straw, saw-dust, rags, or other conveniently obtained material.

A wrapping 11 is provided to keep the filling material in position upon the frame sections, this wrapping being in the form of wire which may be oined to the frame sections atsuit-able intervals as indicated at 12.

The body portion is packed and w 'apped in a compact manner and over this material I apply a'cover'ing 10 formed of fabric saturated with a mixture of plastic material such as cement. The fabric may be sack rags for example, or other fibrous material capable of absorbing a relatively large dc- 111.0

gree of the plastic material. In practice these rags are dipped in a solution of cement and water after which they are ap plied by wrapping or binding, and then allowed to harden about the body portion of the figure.

Upon this covering I now apply a course of cement 13 working the same by hand into the several configurations ofthe body portion to any desired thickness. In practice I have found that varying thicknesses for the coating of cement to the extent of from four to siX inches provides a thoroughly stable coating and at the same time peri'nits of great latitude in shaping the figure.

The ingredients forming the coating may be for example, two parts fine ashes, one part gravel, and one part Portland cement, or for varying thicknesses proportions of two and one half parts sand and one part cement.

An outer surface finish 1.4- is applied to the cement course 13 preferably composed of pumice and cement spread in relatively thin coats of varying fractions of an inch.

Cement suitably colored may also be-used, giving various tints of gray, white, cream, and other effects to the finished work. The proportions and character of the plastic or hydraulic setting materials may be varied as will be understood, and I do not limit myself to the exact disclosures herein set forth.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that I have produced an easily constructed cementitious monument, capable of being configured by the hand as distinguished from casting, and further that such configurations can be attained at the place of erecting the monument thereby reducing the time and expense in obtaining decorative works of art to a minimum.

I claim:

1. A decorative built-up and configured monument connprising a supporting frame formed of wire bent to conform to the outline of the configurations of the monun'ient, a body portion formed of a filling material wrapped with saturated cementitious material and a coating for the aforesaid materials, said coating forming the completed configurations of the monument.

2. A decorative built-up monumental fig ure comprisng a supporting frame bent to conform to the outline of the figure produced, a body portion of fibrous filling material, a wrapping for said filling material composed of fabric saturated with a hydraulic setting compound and another coating of hydraulic setting material covering the aforesaid materials, said last mentioned coating forming the decorative features of the fi ure.

3. cementitious built-up figure comprising an interior body portion including a supporting frame, filling material, and a course of cementitiousmaterial adapted to be shaped to conform to the general outlines of the figure to be produced, and a coating of hydraulic setting material applied to the said body portion, said hydraulic setting material being shaped. to form the completed figure.

i. A cementitious built-up figure comprisingan interior body portion including a supporting frame, and filling material arranged about said frame and shaped to conform to the general outlines of the figure to be produced, a covering of relatively thick concrete applied to said body portion and shaped to form the outlines of the completed figure, and a further covering of relatively thin cement for said concrete.

5. A cementitious built-up and configured monument including a base having a supporting frame secured thereto, a body por tion of filling material secured to said frame and shaped to conform to the general outline of the configurations of the monument, a binding material covering said filling material, a relatively thick coveringof hydraulic setting material for said binding material, said hydraulic setting material being shaped to the desired configurations, and a finishing coating for said hydraulic setting material.

6. The herein described method of buildup a decorative monument which cons sts in shaping a relatively soft interior body portion to generally conform to the completed monument, wrapping said body portion with flexible material saturated with a hydraulic setting material, and shaping a coating of hydraulic setting material about said wrapping.

7. The herein described method. of building up a decorative monument which consists in shaping a supporting frame to conform to the general outline of the completed monument; binding a body portion of soft material to said frame, then wrapping the aforesaid body portion with fabric saturated with a hydraulic setting material; then shaping a relatively thick coating of hydraulic setting material about said wrapping, and finally covering said last mentioned material with a relatively thin finishing coat of hydraulic setting material.

In testimony whereof I afiix' my signature.

HELMUTH V. ZENGEN. 

